Good Muscle Building Ideas

If you’re looking for some ideas on good muscle building… then you’ll want to read this quick article. I’ll share with you some of the “best practices” I’ve discovered while researching at depth the topic of how to build muscle.

This is just a quick list of things I thought would help you and motivate you today in your quest towards building muscle:

1. Work Out Intensely – it’s very important to always work out intensely when you’re in the gym. If you approach your training sessions in this manner then you’ll make sure you always have a good session: think to yourself, “if I don’t progress… in some form today in the gym… then I have totally wasted this gym time!” and it will help to keep you on track. You won’t always progress in adding weight, but there’s always SOMETHING you can progress in: reps, sets, time under tension, contraction of your muscles, technique, etc… Do the DoubleYourGains’ 3-5 Program
2. Get Good Rest - You don’t grow muscle in the gym… and you can continue burning fat out of it… so it’s important to rest as “hard” as you train. Although it’s pretty hard to overtrain (even for elite athletes), you don’t want to neglect a good nights rest, sleep does wonders for your recovery abilities.
3. Eat Whole Foods - Natural foods are best. Unfortunately, it’s hard to get natural foods like nature intended. Almost everything you eat is processed, has been processed, or came out of an animal who ate processed food, so it’s just as bad. This sucks but you don’t have to take it lying down. Eat organic when possible, eat as lean of meats as possible (because toxins are more easily stored in fat) and load up on cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli, etc) and fiber (beans, etc) and drink lots of water to help your body eliminate toxins.
4. Eat a LOT of whole foods – To build muscle you need to eat a LOT, there’s no way around this. You should eat lots of the whole food types I mentioned above. If you can eat dairy, this is good too because you can drink a lot of calories in the form of milk, etc
5. Don’t Rely On Supplements – Supplements are great for getting the stuff into your diet that SHOULD be there, but in our over-processed modern society- isn’t there. But here’s the thing they should “supplement” your already good diet and exercise routines. All the pills and powders in the world won’t help if you don’t first have your diet and exercise in place. After that, check out my list of the best muscle building and weight loss supplements.
6. Don’t Neglect Cardio – It’s important for many reasons. Not the least of which is making sure the weight you’re gaining is lean muscle. Add to that the cardiovascular and heart health benefits and it’s something you should be doing regularly. But do cardio the smart way with mostly intervals and little aerobic training.
7. Don’t Stress The Small Stuff – Stress is a killer. Everytime you turn around there’s something new to be stressed out about: the economy, your job, your boss, your family, your friends, your girl or boyfriend, etc… Here’s the thing: when it comes down to it — it’s ALL small stuff. Even if your problem isn’t a big one, getting stressed out about it isn’t going to help as much as taking a deep breath, looking at the situation clearly and taking action to change the situation into something you like better.
8. Celebrate Your Achievements – It’s hard to stay motivated if you’re not seeing results, so be sure to keep track of your achievements. You want to take “before” photos of yourself before you start your exercise routines, etc… this way you can look back each week (take a new photo each week) and see the amount of progress you really are making.
9. Get Started Now – Above all else, NEVER wait to do anything you want to do… especially building muscle. Need some motivation? The average lifespan for people on this earth is about 70-77 years (depending on where you live, gender, etc)… even on the top end of that: 77 X 365 days per year = 28,105 days in your life TOTAL. If you’re just 20 years old you only have about 20, 805 days left… and NOTHING is ever certain! Don’t  get depressed, but look at how small a number that is! You only got a couple thousand days in your entire life to GET what you want out of life. Is what you’re doing right now moving you closer… or further away from your goals?

Ok, well that’s my random list of thoughts for today, I hope they help you do some good muscle building.